Wow, wow, wow! Where do I even start? I love you all so
much. The past 72 hours have been insane, overwhelming and SO WONDERFUL!

I have so many things going on that I want to share with
you, and I have all year to blog for you guys, so I will get to everything.
It’s such a hard decision to even know where to start though! Since diabetes is
what has really brought in the most social media attention, I decided I am
going to tell you a little bit about my story and my message to you all!

In February 2012, my world was flipped upside down by my
diabetes diagnosis. For a while, I pretended that I didn’t have diabetes,
hoping it would go away. That led to crazy blood sugars, of course, and a very
sick, grumpy, and discouraged Sierra.

In the summer, my friend asked me to compete at Miss Magic
Valley (our local pageant in Twin Falls, Idaho—the winner goes to Miss Idaho
the following summer). To compete, I needed a platform and I chose diabetes. I
was a very different, less confident girl then. I didn’t know what I wanted to
do with my platform, or how to make it happen. Needless to say, I did not win
Miss Magic Valley 2012, and that was totally okay! Life went on, and I met new
friends and learned a lot! In addition, I decided that if nothing else, I was
going to take the best care of my diabetes as possible to show others that it
was possible.

A couple months later, I competed in another pageant, and
WON! However, I competed at Miss Idaho last summer and didn’t make top 11 (out
of 18 girls). I came home, competed for Miss Magic Valley 2013, won, and have
spent the last year promoting my platform, fundraising for Children’s Miracle
Network, and trying to grow as an individual.

My platform is now Possibilities for Disabilities. My sister
and I put on sports camps for people with developmental disabilities. I found
that the reason my diabetes platform was so powerful was not because of the
disease itself, but because of my message: we all have obstacles, but we need
to know that we can overcome them, as well as use them to empower ourselves and
make an impact on those around us. The kids I work with at my camps are champs,
and this message relates to them, as well as diabetics and every other person
on the planet! I will talk more about my official platform in a future blog
post!

At Miss Idaho 2014, as most of you know, I made the decision
to wear my pump on stage while competing. That decision took me two long years
to make. When I first started competing, I was using injections rather than a
pump. I didn’t want people to see a weird-tubey-machine-thing attached to me
all the time, and could not wrap my head around having a medical device on my
body for the rest of my life.

The media often tells us this lie: if your appearance
deviates in any way from cover girls, movie stars, super models, etc., it is a
flaw and something is wrong with you. Well, guess what? Miss America 1999 has
an insulin pump, and it doesn’t make her any less beautiful. In fact, in my
mind, it enhances her beauty! So, a year after I was diagnosed, I got a pump.
It helped me get even better control of my diabetes, and made my life SO much
easier. Working up the confidence to compete with it was an entirely different
journey, but this summer at Miss Idaho 2014, I finally did it.

As I nervously walked out of the dressing room the first
night of competition, the first person I saw said, “What’s that? Is that an
insulin pump?”.My stomach flipped
upside down. “I shouldn’t have worn this,” I thought, “everyone is going to be
confused and wonder what I am wearing”.But, the inquisitor happened to be McCall Salinas, the current Miss
Idaho’s Outstanding Preteen. She shared with me that she had diabetes as well,
but didn’t want a pump because of similar reasons I had had. Through out the
night, she stood backstage cheering me on. We bonded over diabetes and
pageants, and by the end of the night, she told her mom she was ready to get a
pump. It brought me to tears. The thought that I could be one person’s “Nicole
Johnson” meant more to me than I can ever put into words. Now, with the title
of Miss Idaho, I have had a million new opportunities to spread the word about
diabetes and overcoming obstacles! I am overwhelmed with hearing how many lives
have been touched by me simply wearing my pump on stage. It means so much to
me, and I hope I can touch many more during my year as Miss Idaho.